Author Notes:"I don’t know if I should apologise for this or boast about it. Either way, I feel you will thank me for it. The thing is, it’s embarrassingly easy to make and is just the sort of count-no-calories indulgence that the season demands. Don’t be tempted to let the cheesecake come to room temperature before serving. It slices and tastes better with a bit of fridge-chill on it." Recipe adapted slightly from Nigellissima (Clarkson Potter, 2013). —Genius Recipes

Break the digestives into the bowl of a processor, add the butter and a 15-milliliter tablespoon of Nutella, and blitz until it starts to clump. Add 25 grams/3 tablespoons of the hazelnuts and continue to pulse until you have a damp, sandy mixture.

Tip into a 23-centimeter/9-inch round springform and press into the base either using your hands or the back of a spoon. Place in the fridge to chill.

Beat the cream cheese and confectioners' sugar until smooth and then add the remaining Nutella to the cream cheese mixture, and continue beating until combined.

Take the springform out of the fridge and carefully smooth the Nutella mixture over the base. Scatter the remaining chopped hazelnuts on top to cover and place the tin in the fridge for at least four hours or overnight. Serve straight from the fridge for best results.

Editor's note: I like to toast nuts on a rimmed baking sheet at 325° F for 15 to 20 minutes, until they are golden through the middle. To keep this truly no-bake, you can also toast the nuts in a dry pan on the stovetop over medium low, tossing occasionally. To get any loose skins off, leave them to cool and steam a bit wrapped in a clean kitchen towel for 10 minutes, then rub off as much skin as you can before chopping.

Just made this on a 90 degree day in Portland OR... Was so happy not to turn on the oven! It was a huge hit. Haven't gotten this many recipe requests in a while! I did about 6 T of butter and 1 1/2 T of nutella in the crust, as mine didn't quite come together as easily. I also used only 1/3 cup powdered sugar in the filling as I prefer my desserts a little less sweet.

I served this at a Christmas party, and our guests raved about it. I used a 9-oz. package of Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafer cookies for the crust instead of digestive biscuits, which undoubtedly amped up the chocolate flavor. I froze the small amount that was left over, and it was delicious right out of the freezer.

You can find Carr's "Whole Wheat Crackers" in the cracker aisle of many grocery stores. They're good with lots of things! Also, if you don't have a food processor and don't want the mess of crushing the crackers by hand, you can use a blender.

Not great. This "cheesecake" was incredibly underwhelming. I'm actually really surprised to see this on the Food52 website and I feel silly for having tried it. The nutella flavor is almost impossible to detect through the dense cream cheese. The five people who sampled this cake all agreed that it should not be made again. Common reactions around the table included, too dense, too rich, and lacking in the flavor you might expect from a nutella cheesecake. I will add that I executed this recipe exactly as written. I would not recommend attempting this recipe or even doing a variation of this recipe, there are certainly better no-bake cheesecake recipes out there.

I will agree with you that served directly from the fridge, the texture is dense and the flavor muted. I dispute Nigella's suggestion to serve it cold; I found that the flavor and texture were much improved by sitting out at room temperature for at least 30 minutes..creamier and less of the tang from the cream cheese. Made this again for New Year's and happened to use low-fat cream cheese and found the texture was improved. Maybe what passes for cream cheese in the UK has fewer gums and stabilizers than here in the US. You may prefer this will the softer Neufchâtel cheese.

This was amazing: raves all around my Christmas table. It serves way more than 8, because it's so rich. I used graham crackers for the crust, added a couple teaspoons more butter to get the crust to clump. Next time I might line the base of my springform with parchment because it stuck a wee bit in the middle. Used the food processor to chop the hazelnuts, then for the crust, AND for the filling (why dirty another appliance?), scraping well to avoid white cream cheese streaks. Cut the confectioner's sugar to 40 grams and it was plenty sweet enough. Was asked to bring it for New Year's Eve...thank goodness I was given the 1 kilo jar of Nutella!

Made this on Friday for a friend's birthday. She texted me almost immediately to rave about it. I tasted the batter on the spatula and didn't find it to be too sweet but it did have an amazing texture. Super easy too!

Digestives are a British cookie, sort of like a whole-grain shortbread (because they are whole grain they were thought good for the digestion). Vanilla wafers or graham crackers make a fine substitute .

I break up my biscuits or cookies in a zip-top bag with a rolling pin, then put it in a bowl and add my butter and any other additives when I make a crust for cheese cake. The important thing here, to me, is that you get the crumbs tiny, and you thoroughly mix in the butter and Nutella here to make sure everything comes together when you're patting the crust down.